At The Information‘s ‘Next Phase of Android’ keynote last week, Cyanogen Inc. CEO Kirt McMaster said that Google has a “tyrannical” hold on Android, allowing only certain OEMs from accessing Google’s important services like Gmail and Maps in exchange for commitments not to alter other features like Google Now, which is increasingly becoming central to the company’s mobile advertising future.

Cyanogen believes that by harnessing the core power of Android’s framework, disconnected from the Google services, it can create an entirely new operating system. “Today, Cyanogen has some dependence on Google. Tomorrow, it will not,” McMaster told the crowd.

Cyanogen is now working with other OEMs to more widely distribute its product. Based out of Seattle, it’s not quite connected to the Silicon Valley space, and still considers itself a small, scrappy startup with over “volunteers” working to bring the custom ROM to handsets new and old, many of which are no longer supported by their own manufacturers.

It’s unclear what Microsoft’s roll will be in the venture, but it likely knows that Windows 10 on smartphones will never be as widely sold as iOS or Android, and is planning accordingly.